If your idea of vacation planning is obsessively researching every restaurant, bar, coffee shop and food stand, gay Taipei, Taiwan, belongs on your bucket list. Taiwan’s sprawling capital city is home to 2.7 million residents and what feels like just as many must-visit spots for food and drink.

The island has a contentious history, with bouts of Dutch, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese presence or rule, and Taipei’s rich culinary landscape includes nods to its diverse colonial past as well as the traditions of the indigenous population: fresh Japanese seafood at DOZO Izakaya Bar, superstar soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung, fine-dining French exports like L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, unbelievable street food like stinky tofu, innovative cocktails from the R&D Cocktail Lab, German beer halls like Buckskin Beerhouse, scenic tea houses atop Maokong mountain — and that barely scratches the surface.

There’s never been a better time to visit. In the first Michelin Guide Taipei, the city had 20 restaurants receive stars, with restaurants ranging from the three-star Le Palais, famous for its expertly executed Cantonese fare, to the one-star Taiwanese-meets-Nordic hit Mume.

Thirty-six joints made Michelin’s Bib Gourmand category, including 10 street food stalls scattered throughout the Taipei’s famous night markets, where tourists, locals and everyone in between sample piping-hot black pepper buns and pearl milk tea. You’ll also find plenty of excellent shops, hotels and tourist attractions — Taipei 101, once the world’s tallest building, is definitely worth braving the crowds for — to fill time between meals.

I ask an American what is considered quintessential Austrian cuisine, and you’re likely to get a furrowed brow. At roughly 32,000 square miles (think South Carolina, but landlocked), the country shares borders and cultural influences with the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Slovakia. In its heyday, the Austrian Empire was one of the most powerful in Europe, ruled by the Habsburgs for nearly six centuries. The declared war against Serbia marked the beginning of World War I, and by 1918 the dynasty was history. Nazi invasion followed and an eventual restoration of autonomy with the help of the Allied Forces.

Sitting at the epicenter of Europe’s evershifting alliances has tested Austria’s resiliency, but it has also laid the groundwork for culinary inspiration drawn from historical trade routes and centuries-old farming and agriculture industries. I recently visited the land of Wiener schnitzel and pumpkinseed oil in search of Austria’s best bites, and to taste how the country is keeping pace with 21stcentury gastronomy trends, while still maintaining its authentic traditions.

Vienna is Europe’s unsung hero for stunning Gothic, baroque, and modern architecture. It also boasts the Ringstrasse, a three-mile circular road where you can find the Vienna State Opera, the Museum of Fine Arts, and other Insta-worthy landmarks. Commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1857, it is the symbol of the city’s penchant for the finer things in life and still serves as an anchor for Vienna’s bustling and sophisticated lifestyle.

I begin my edible excursion by checking into the Grand Ferdinand (Schubertring 10-12. Tel: +43-1-91880. www.grandferdinand.com), hotelier Florian Weitzer’s opulent reimagining of several adjacent 1950’s office buildings. Its showcase restaurant, Meissl & Schadn (www.meisslundschadn.at), pays homage to the legendary namesake hotel and restaurant that opened in Vienna in 1896 but didn’t survive the city’s World War II bombing. History is reborn with classic recipes served in a dramatic setting featuring wicker chairs, tiled pillars, low-hanging chandeliers, and crisp white linens.

But it’s the sound of veal cutlets pounded into plate-size portions in the salon kitchen that gives Meissl & Schaden its signature Viennese flair. Dipped in free-range eggs then coated in breadcrumbs, the Wiener schnitzel sizzles away (in your choice of clarified butter, lard, or neutral vegetable oil) until crispy. Finished with a hearty squeeze of lemon, it embodies the essence of classic Austrian cuisine.

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary this year in Granada. This was a great excuse to visit lots of incredible restaurants during the week and enjoy being wined and dined.

We are self-admitted food snobs. We rarely go to a restaurant unless we have scoured TripAdvisor first and it has highly rated feedback. Both of us love food, and if we are going to blow our travelling budget eating somewhere ‘fancy’, it better be worth it!

Luckily, Granada has a lot to offer, both in terms of budget and type of cuisine. If you visit Granada, be sure to visit the following restaurants that have made our list, you won’t be disappointed!

Ciudad Lounge

We ate here on our anniversary and had high expectations based on their TripAdvisor reviews. They took our expectations and went above and beyond!

Ciudad Lounge is run by a couple: Noemi, who runs front of house, and William, who is the chef. Located 5 minutes out of the centre of Granada, they class themselves as a ‘destination’ restaurant, somewhere people are recommended to visit, where you make the effort to go, rather than a restaurant you stumble across by chance. Here is a place where the focus is really on the ‘experience’ of dining, as well as the food and drink.

We did not quite understand what they meant by this until we tried it for ourselves, and we loved the concept.

Initially, you are taken to sit comfortably in the lounge area where you can enjoy some of the best cocktails we have had in a while, (see below what we tried). This is where you can also enjoy your appetisers, before being taken to your table in the main part of the restaurant just as your mains are ready. This felt seamless and we enjoyed breaking up the meal into different parts of the restaurant.

Some may think that Sweden goes into hibernation once the dark months hit, temperatures plummet below zero and crisp white snow blankets everything with absolute abandon.
They couldn’t be more wrong, Swedes like to eat and drink all year round, regardless of weather and as a result, there’s a long, awesome food culture that every LGBTI foodie must try. So we asked the globetrotting gourmets with a love of Sweden, the GastroGays about their favorite foodie experiences. This is what they had to say…

Dinner on Ice in Brändö, Swedish Lapland

‘Swedish Lapland is a true winter wonderland with incredible food experiences to be had in the colder months.

‘In Brändö, you can dine between the stars and sea, by eating on the ice itself. Dinner on Ice is just 30 minutes outside Luleå at Brändö Kvarnväg. Beneath a starry sky and above the water itself, leave the shore surrounded by darkness and walk towards the glow and warmth of fire and enticing smell of food.

‘The lávvu tent sent up on the ice offers a truly unique experience for all the senses that seems all kinds of wrong in theory but in practice works on every level.’

Montréal has long offered delights to fans of gastronomy, but there’s a major difference between the culinary scene of today and even just a decade back. Whereas Montréal used to be chock-a-block with amazing, homey French-style bistros and holes in the wall, today’s Québecois chefs have truly embraced the region’s indigenous farm-to-table bounty and flavors, and married them with contemporary technique and innovation.

A substantial melting-pot population (including Latino and Vietnamese) has also spawned an impressive international variety of cuisines and ethnic specialties from Peruvian Nikkei fusion at Tiradito to authentic Salvadorian pupusas(a sort of corn tortilla pouch stuffed with savory fillings) at neighborhood fave, Los Planes.

The excellent “Beyond the Market” walking tour from gay-owned, decidedly nontouristy Spade & Palacio Tours (Tel: 1-514806-3263. www.spadeandpalacio.com), features a pupusa tasting stop at Los Planes, bites from other venues including Montréal’s famed Jean Talon Market, where vendor Fromage Fermier’s local goat cheese and Havre-aux-Galce’s seasonal ice cream and sorbets alone are worth a visit. The tour concludes with a picnic lunch and takeaway “cheat sheet” with a map of their favorite restaurants and cafés.

Of course, here we have a Montréal “cheat sheet” of our own, which runs the gamut from a game-changing restaurant that has since launched Montréal’s biggest new generation of kitchen talents to a lesbian-owned craft beer pub to a new, buzzy Japanese-fusion bistro. Bonus: those with a penchant for international fine dining can find Canada’s first L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, from French superstar chef Joel Robuchon, at Casino Montréal.

Brasserie Harricana

Montréal’s craft-beer scene easily warrants its own feature article: there are some 35plus-brew pubs within the city at present, and around 150 microbreweries throughout the Québec region. A lesbian-owned, threeyear-old brasserie and microbrewer, straddling the Mile Ex and Little Italy neighborhoods, Brasserie Harricana represents a fabulous spot to give some of these brews, ciders, liquors, and even local kombucha a whirl. As indicated on the drinks menu, some draughts are served at specific temperatures, with alcohol content indicated.

Long ago, in another era and career that involved cubicles and quarterly reports, a colleague sat his khaki-clad butt on my linoleum desk and asked me the question that would ultimately lead me straight out the front door.

“What would you do, professionally, if you could do anything?”

The answer came immediately. “I’d write.”

Working beside me day after day, he’d witnessed the frowning and temple rubbing–my career frustration hadn’t escaped him.

At my response, he stood up and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Do it,” he said. “Go find what you love and fill up on it.”

Twenty years later, not a day goes by that I don’t sit down to a blank page and feel grateful for that conversation. Today, I write for a living and have been blessed with bylines in some of the best publications in the world. It never gets old–especially when the subject matter combines three things I love to muse over—people, places, and food.

When the opportunity to pen Unique Eats & Eateries of San Francisco came along, it was impossible to say no. San Francisco is that place, for me, where food and memory are inextricably linked.

The camera eats first!” insisted the alpha-teen at the table next to me when a waitress arrived and lifted the lid from a bamboo basket of steaming shrimp dumplings, confettied with fragrant green snippets of chive.

Forty fiercely painted fingernails reluctantly reversed direction and withdrew as their queen bee moved her iPhone to catch just the right angle, sliding water glasses and cutlery out of view to frame the impend- ing tastiness just-so. “Come on,” com- plained one of her gaggle, “I’m hungry!”

Richmond, British Columbia, on Lulu Island, is the only place in the world where the visitors’ bureau has officially adapted “The camera eats first” as a tourism slogan, urging locals and out-of-towners alike to flood blogs and social media with mouthwatering imagery.

Success was pretty much guaranteed from the get-go. With the largest Asian population in North America and over 800 restaurants, Richmond provides easy access to a world of alluring, sometimes unfamiliar foods for American travelers without the time, budget, or adventurous- ness to manage trans-pacific travel.

Many gay travelers have been to Richmond without even knowing it. If you’ve ever flown into Vancouver, one of Canada’s most popular LGBT destinations, you actually landed in Richmond, where the “Vancouver” International Airport is located. Just a 30-minute car or public train ride from central Vancouver, its a must-do on any Vancity vacation. And if you’re a culinary adventurer, Richmond easily merits a dedicated long weekend trip of its own. Richmond is ready for its close-up, Mr. Delicious.

For reservations, call 504.207.4532. Vacherie Restaurant is named for the town of Vacherie, Louisiana, a small community situated on the banks of the Mississippi river just west of New Orleans. Laura’s Plantation, which is the only plantation that we highly recommend visiting is nearby. Chef Jarred Zeringue grew up there amid the sprawling farms, grand live oaks and antebellum plantations. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and they also have a large bar for those who just to stop in for a drink or two.

For our appetizer, we enjoyed the Alligator Tail Etouffee with Jasmine Rice which was really tasty. For our entrees we had the Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Steen’s Cane Syrup Glaze which was a real treat and the Crab Cakes Remoulade with Corn and Creole Green Beans which melted in your mouth. And for dessert what else but the Louisiana Pecan Pie. Paul was our very attentive and professional server.

He also has another fabulous restaurant called, EAT, 900 Dumaine Street, http://eatnola.com/ . We especially enjoyed talking with the Manager, Erik. He and his husband are what makes us very proud about young Gay men. We wish them the VERY BEST in their lives together and with their family!

Amsterdam’s restaurants have lately grown in quality and creativity, to say nothing of the fact that food prices, now that the euro is friendlier to the dollar (as of this writing), are quite reasonable. For example: Dover Sole is priced around $17 on several menus, whereas the same would cost double or more in New York City. If you’re on a budget, you can eat well in Amsterdam, and if you’re not you’ll be pleasantly surprised at restaurant costs. Here are some wonderful places we visited that you should put on your must-try list the next time you’re in this always-beautiful, exciting, romantic city.

Recently, I had an opportunity to explore an area in Amsterdam new to me with tasty results. Amsterdam-West is a conglomerate of the neighborhoods Oud-West, De Baarsjes, Westerpark, and Bos en Lommer. With over 175 different nationalities among its population, the mostly residential area is now dotted with up-to-date shops, cafés, and restaurants. A great feature of the neighborhood is the daily outdoor market at Ten Kate Market (10 Katestraat 97-99. www.tenkatemarkt.nl) that offers “flowers, cheese, wine, baby items, clothing, fruit, vegetables, and 101 other market items,” according to its website. I slowed down as I passed through every day on my way to the tram stop and invariably picked up a few items that included ribbon, toothpaste, and even a few wool scarves.

One of the more ambitious projects in Amsterdam West is De Hallen, the renovation of seven immense maintenance sheds opened around 1900 when electric trams were introduced. Today, De Hallen includes a hotel, food halls with over 20 different vendors, a movie theater with separate viewing areas, a library, nursery school, dozens of shops, and parking for both cars and bicycles.

Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:

Louisville’s premiere LGBT Hotel in the heart of downtown.

We welcome you to our city and would be thrilled to help you plan your get a way vacation! We are adjacent to the Mercury Ballroom and Palace Theatre, blocks from the Yum Center, and Fourth Street Live! Our TAG approved and gay friendly staff will help you plan visits to local shopping, LGBT Nightlife, the famous Highlands neighborhood and more.

Our roof top bar and lounge is the ideal spot to grab dinner or a cocktail while you’re hear or you can choose from numerous locations within walking distance.

Join us for Kentuckiana Pride in June or Louisville Pride in September. Chill Bar, Big Bar, and Play Dance Bar are a short drive and all offer a fantastic night out on the town.